Great Carpet Cleaning Tip

As a professional carpet cleaner for many years I have dealt with all kinds of issues.  Here are some quick answers to some of the most common questions I get asked.  You can also find out more here on this Carpet Cleaning website our or Colorado Carpet Cleaning site.

How Often Should I Clean My Carpets?

The answer here always depends on the home owner.  If you have a few kids and the carpet gets daily wear then you should look at cleaning your carpets at least twice a year and maybe a third time for just the high traffic areas.  Waiting until your carpets look dirty is the worst time because all that dirt and oil build up may not come out because of how extensive it is.

If you live alone and have no pets and not a whole lot of carpet traffic then most likely you only need to have your carpets cleaned once a year.  After I mention this I often get asked why the carpets even need to be cleaned once a year because these people are taking very good care of their carpets and they are immaculate.It's a very honest question to ask and one most people would think of.

Imagine this, you put a shirt on the ground and walk on it for 12 months.  Yes you may be walking over it with just your socks but it still gets very dirty.Now in a years time are you going to pick that shirt up and wear it.  The answer is of course not.Of course your going to wash your shirt first.  Carpets are great at hiding dirt.  You want to be able to sit and even lay down on your carpets with out having to worry about how dirty they are.

Regardless of how little traffic your carpet gets you want to have them cleaned at least once a year.  Almost all carpet manufacturers will also tell you to get your carpets cleaned once a year as well.  Doing so will really help the over all life and looks of your carpet.

This quick tip was brought to you for Garry from L & M Carpet Cleaning.  If you live in the Northern Colorado are and looking to get your carpets cleaned then swing by our Carpet Cleaning Fort Collins website.

Sure Fire NBA Betting Tips

Are you looking for more NBA Betting Tips? There are so many different sports you can bet on. NFL are probably the more popular sports game for people to bet on but for me NBA are more easily to win. There are so many more games and more opportunities to make money.

There are a few forms of betting you can do with NBA betting. One of the easiest and relaxing way to do is futures betting. This is the time you place a bet before that season starts and you will need to predict something you would not know for months ahead.

Individual futures betting means you bet on a certain player. You can bet on what player you think will lead the league in points, rebounds and assists. You can also bet on player you predict that would win the most valuable player of the year. The good thing in picking on these bets is that you don't need to bet with a lot of money. There are so many players in contention for every award that each one you win pays extremely well.

You can do futures betting on team level. This is the place you predict teams that will win their divisions, conference or league championship. These pay very good.

Please do not skip my NBA Basketball Betting Tips if you want to get some sure firing tips to skyrocket your NBA winning rate!

Season betting gives you a hell lots of opportunities in making more money. You can make at least 3 different bets in every nba game. First of all, you can bet which side to win the game. Second, you can bet which team you think will cover the spread. And finally, you can bet under or over of the total points for the game. For instance, the betting service will put the over under at about 200 points for a game. If you think both teams combined score will be over 200 points, you bet the over.

Betting NBA basketball can be very happy and money making. The best way to sky rocket your NBA betting profit is to get professional advice to aid your betting.

I am using a very marvellous NBA basketball betting system for my personal advice. They help regular people like me win 97% of our bets. I've recorded a 80-0 win with this system I'm using. I have no but higher praise to John Morrison's Sports Betting Champ.

I Want To Download Wii Games For Free - Find Out How Right Here!

The recent outbreak of Wii gaming consoles has definitely got your head stucked to the latest Wii games.In order to satisfy this Wii "need", the additive Wii gamers out there are already asking if they're able to download Wii games straight from the World Wide Web, free of charge. I'm a Gabriel Fox, a professional gamer myself and I'd tell you that's exactly what I do to feed my Wii addiction - I download Wii games online.

"But I'm finding for sites that I can download Wii games for free!" You asked? Yep, I won't even doubt that, I agreed, is there anyone in this world who doesn't like free stuff?However, bear one point in mind, it's nice to have something free, but these free things come with risks, and that totally depends on whether can you afford to risk your personal computer to the viruses and trojans, or not.

I've been downloading Wii games all these time, for totally free, in a sense. What I'm saying here is that I've subscribed to a Wii games download site for a one time payment membership fee. This is a totally brilliant way to go about because for such a cheap price I'd get to unlimitedly download Wii games onto my PC and then transfering them to my Wii console.

If you're a complete newbie about downloading and burning Wii games, I'd suggest you subscribing to a Wii games download site that includes a full-scale walkthroughs, perferably step-by-step video walkthroughs to help you easily download Wii games for free.You've got to make sure that these Wii game downloading sites employ the one-time-subscription system, and that their databases contain different kinds of medias like movies, musics, TV shows within the package.

It's quite easy to dig out these Wii games download sites if you've done proper research. However, if you're looking for ways to find out which is a better Nintendo Wii download site to look for, that doesn't have any viruses or trojans, it's going to be a tough work to do. You can check out my Nintendo Wii Download sites Review for more information about various Wii downloading sites.

Ionic Air Purifier Technologies - Defender or Destroyer?

Introduction

Ionic air purifiers hold the promise of clean air, purified of all known harmful contaminants that threaten our health. Air is made impure by substances unseen by our naked eye. The weapons against such are very likely to be invisible to our eyes as well. Intuitively, the logic appeals to me. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution as google throws up an avalanche of controversy within seconds. Even though I am tempted to quickly get an ionic air purifier to clean the air I breathe, it is clear that more time and effort is needed. The search for an ionic air purifier must focus on its safety aspects as much, if not more, than its effectiveness against contaminants.

The recent China melamine saga that killed infants also is a timely reminder to us that in buying into any technology or any product, all claims by manufacturers and distributors must be screened to the fullest extent that our resources permit. This is even more critical when the key reactive agent is unseen to the human eye. My investigation of ionic air purifier technologies falls within this realm, as the reactive agents are ions that are invisible to our eyes.

In this article, I am laying out the roadmap as I look into the existing ionic air purifier technologies in the global marketplace. Trying to understand the science behind the technologies seems to be the logical place to begin searching for the ideal ionic air purifier. The current key trend appears to be the creation of a potent invisible defence shield against airborne molecular contaminants that threaten our well-being. The dominant global health threat under the scrutiny of scientists is the avian flu virus.

Types of Ionic Air Purifier Technologies

Broadly speaking, air purification technologies can be deployed in either passive or active modes. Passive typically means that impure air is drawn into the air purifier for the reactive agents to work on before re-emerging as cleaned air into the environment. Active generally means dispersive processes by which the impure air is penetrated and purified by the reactive agents. Combinations of both passive and active modes are often found in many types of ionic air purifiers.

In the global market today, ionic air purifier technologies include the following categories:

(A) Ion generator - positive and negative ions
(B) Ion generator - negative ions only
(C) Photocatalytic Oxidation (POC)
(D) Electrostatic filter
(E) Combos

Ion Generator - Positive and Negative Ions

This combination of positive and negative ions appears to show the most promise for the future of ionic air purifier technology. Pioneered by the Japanese corporate giant, Sharp Corporation, they are known as plasmacluster ions.

Plasmaclusters of positive and negative ions encircle and latch onto harmful bacteria and viruses in a deadly grip. When this happens, hydroxyl is produced. Hydroxyl, also known as nature's detergent, is a powerful reactive species that plucks out hydrogen molecules from the organic structure of these airborne particulates thereby destroying them. This chemical reaction generates harmless by-products, the main of which is water.

A differential ion generator is used in this technology, comprising a positive and a negative ion generator which can be powered in alternate cycles to control the type of ions generated.

Advocates of the positive and negative ions combination claim that a balance of both these ion types is to be found in places like waterfalls and pristine forests, i.e. this is the actual state in nature. Adherents of the negative ions technology expound the view that negative ions dominate these natural habitats and that positive ions are harmful. In this regard, I have yet to find independent scientific studies as evidence for the contradictory claims of both camps.

Ion Generator - Negative Ions

The traditional ionic air purifier produces only negative ions. Currently, this technology dominates market share but it is under serious threat from Sharp's plasmacluster positive and negative ions technology.

It is claimed that nearly all harmful airborne particulates like dust, smoke and bacteria etc have a positive charge. Negatively charged ions are naturally attracted to these particulates until they sink to the ground by sheer weight. Vacuuming removes these neutralised impurities and therefore protects us from them. Weighing down the particulates does nothing to destory them, according to critics, and merely walking on them causes the air to be polluted again.

Apparently, there are a number of ways to produce negative ions. It is critical to know the various methods as each may have different by-products, some harmful and some which are not. These methods include:

(1) Water method - this employs what is known as the waterfall or Lenard Effect. Water droplets are splashed onto a metal plate where a small electric charge is applied. This simple action results in the splitting of water droplets, causing the production of large numbers of negative ions. No harmful by-products result from using the water method to produce ions.

(2) Electron radiation method - this is based on a single negative discharge electrode needle. Negatively-charged electrons are produced by the millions when a high voltage pulse is applied to the electrode. An advantage of this method is that no ozone is produced. This is believed to be due to the application of a "smaller" energy pulse.

(3) Corona discharge method - this is based on a dual electrode model, a sharp metal electrode and a flat electrode. A very high voltage is applied between the two electrodes. This causes the movement of electrons between the electrodes thereby ionising the air in between them. A criticism of this method is the production of harmful by-products like ozone and nitride oxide.

Photocatalytic Oxidation (POC)

This technology is commonly applied in a passive mode. It is also based on the powerful reactive agent hydroxyl which purifies impure air that is pulled through the air purifier.

Germicidal ultraviolet (UV) light is commonly shone on a catalyst (usually titanium oxide) to produce hydroxyl, oxygen and peroxide, all of which are potent oxidising agents that are very effective at destroying the organic structure of micro-organisms and gaseous volatile organic compounds.

Complete and comprehensive action is the pillar of POC technology. Proponents of this technology claim that POC inactivates ALL categories of indoor pollution, including:

(1) airborne particulates i.e. dust, pet dander, plant pollen, sea salts, tobacco smoke, industrial and car pollution, etc

(2) bioaerosols i.e. contagious or infectious biological compounds (e.g. viruses and pathogenic bacteria) or non-infectious and non-contagious (e.g. non-pathogenic bacteria, molds, cell debris)

(3) volatile organic compounds (VOCs) i.e. gaseous chemicals or odours - benzene, toluene, chloroform, ethanol, formaldehyde, etc, all common emissions from everyday products of our modern home.

Critics of POC zoom in on the power effects of hydroxyl, claiming that they cannot differentiate between the organic structures that make up molecular contaminants and our lung tissue, eye cornea or nose membranes.

Electrostatic Filter

This technology appears to have originated in heavy industries which produced abundant pollutants. The typical electrostatic filter ionic air purifier includes two electrodes sandwiching a porous dielectric material. The dielectric material impedes electrical conductivity whilst the electrodes efficiently conduct electricity.

As impure air is drawn into the electrostatic purifier, it passes through the dielectric material which acts as a sieve. Electrostatic forces between the electrodes causes airborne particulates i.e.smoke contaminants, dust, etc, to adhere to the dielectric surface. Out of the other end of the purifier, cleaned air is recirculated.

Frequently, an ion source is planted just before the electrostatic filter to electrically charge the airborne particulates. These impurities, so charged, stick more effectively to the dielectric material.

Critics of this technology point to the production of harmful ozone in the ionisation process.

Combo Ionic Air Purifiers

To cater to the various adherents and critics of the diverse technologies, combos incorporate all or some of the above types of technologies. Combos may include:

(1) adsorptive materials such as activated carbon or oxygenated charcoal (known for its extremely porous large surface area) are added to POC technology to enhance the removal of VOCs;

(2) oxidizing catalysts like titanium oxide are coated on various components of all types of air purifiers to enhance VOC elimination;

(3) reducing catalysts such as manganese dioxide are coated near the exit outlets of many air purifiers to reduce reactive species like ozone and nitric oxide which may be harmful;

(4) generating ions by differing methods such as using microwave, UV light, radio frequency waves, and direct current;

(5) tweaking the specifications of any ionic air purifier technology so as to attain the well-known HEPA status without actually using HEPA filters.

Obviously, the process of selecting the most efficient and effective ionic air purifier involves analysing a deluge of information. I have barely skimmed the surface of the safety issues of each technology. I will also be studying in detail the claims of each technology. It is natural to want to quickly want something that promises to improve the air quality in your homes, offices, factories, schools etc. But I urge you to do your homework and check back here for updates as I continue to look for the ideal ionic air purifier.

To easily receive updates on new articles, subscribe to The Ionic Air Purifier Blog today.

Skip Hire

 

[When you say skips you think about the open top container kind of skip rather than the delicious prawn cocktail flavoured crisps.]

[I wish my skips tasted like the crips because right now I have 3 skips on my driveway, it’s a right eyesore. These skips are massive, huge builders skips. I just wish I could eat them up!]

[I ordered these skips from who I thought was a well reputable company, promising the earth along with their skips. Instead of getting the skips for the time I asked, I have been left with them for coming up to 3 months now. After countless ringing, letter writing and threats, I have now lost the will to live.]

[I am in the business of ripping off scummy students by overcharging them for a damp filled, box room, in a considerably questionable part of town. ] [For easy skip hire Mayfair, call freephone 0844 884 6667.]

[A nosey no good neighbour had called the council on me. They said I had to do up the house or forget renting it. Unbelieveable really, what a joke. The skips were part of this renovation.]

[I stupidly chose price over quality of service and found the cheapest supplier of skips I could find. I will sell those skips soon though on ebay if they aren't picked up, I am sure someone out there will have some use for 3 skips. I might try and take ownership of them and then sell them back to the cowboys that failed to pick them up.]

[I have put on enormous amounts of weight, the only thing I can think of for this reason, is I have been comfort eating. And everytime I look at the skips on my driveway, the yellowness of them makes me dive in my cupboard for a pack of delicious skips. I think i may sue them or at least send them my gym membership bill!]

[Maybe this is a sign for me to stop cutting corners, and look maybe at recommended companies to use in future, this way I may get the job done, and when you look at the bigger picture, I may save money, even if initially it looked dearer! ]

[I will never look at skips in the same way again. The type of crisp or the big waste collectors. All thanks to a rubbish service.]

Enable Your Bathroom Get more safety by the Safety Bath Mats

Safety bath mats is a kind of furniture that is usually used to cover the bottom of the tub. From generation to generations, many people used porcelain bath tubs for bathing and they never lid it with safety bath mats. Some people may be able to survive bathing rituals without cracking their heads open. However, it doesn't have to be the same. You still need to equip your bathroom with safety bath mats.

Stepping Into the Bathtub is Quite Risky

Healthy individuals with good coordination and a well developed sense of self preservation seldom think twice about stepping into a bathtub that doesn’t have safety bath mats. They assume that the only people who slip and fall when standing in the bathtub are the very old who have problems with degenerative bone conditions and balance matters. It can also happen to the very young who simply don’t know any good.

The unfortunate thing is that anyone can have a slip and fall accident while showering in a tub that is not attached with safety bath mats. It only takes a second for a foot to slip out from underneath you, and for you to collapse. It is potentially cracking your head against the end part of the tub. You could end up breaking your hip even if you are able to prevent your head from connecting against the side of the tub.

Safety bath mats are grips that are supposed to be stuck to the bottom of your bath tub. You need to attach the safety bath mats a short distance from one another. Your foot will only slide a short distance on the slippery tub by placing the safety bath mats close together.

You can imagine as a first time parents, you and your spouse need to learn a lot of things on how to maintain your baby. Simple things like buying natural baby bath and giving your baby at bath can be quite daunting at first. Being wary on taking care the baby reminds us how important the bath safety is. The mat will prevent it from sliding far enough out from under you that you crash. The installation of handrails is one more precaution that can be used to help prevent you from cracking your head open while in the bathtub.

The softened water increases the odds of having a slide and fall accident while in the bathtub. Thus, consider disconnecting the bath tub facet from your water softener when you are placing the safety bath mats on the bottom of your tub.

It is not enough to keep slip and fall accidents simply by placing safety bath mats inside your tub. Many people fall and suffer from traumatic brain injuries when they step out of the shower and skid over the wet floor. Especially for your baby, since you still want to keep the wiggly kids warm as they dry off after a bath, a baby bath robe is a good solution. Surrounding your tub with bath mats immediately wiping up puddles of water will go along way towards preventing a journey to the emergency room.

You should know that it is not a boring job to spotting such bath mats in your bathroom as a safety precaution. In fact, there are several fun and colorful safety bath mats available on the market. You can make your bathroom prettier with those fun and colorful safety bath mats.

Ionic Air Purifier Technologies - Solid Science or Slick Commercial Marketing?

Introduction

Ionic air purifiers hold the promise of clean air, purified of all known harmful contaminants that threaten our health. Air is made impure by substances unseen by our naked eye. The weapons against such are very likely to be invisible to our eyes as well. Intuitively, the logic is compelling. But these days, finding a simple and quick solution is rare. Googling the subject unearths a ton of controversy. It is quite clear that the urge to rush out and buy an ionic air purifier must be suppressed at the moment. Product safety must take precedence over effectiveness in choosing an ionic air purifier.

The recent China melamine saga that killed infants also serves as a reminder to us that in buying into any technology or any product, all claims by manufacturers and distributors must be examined to the fullest extent that our resources permit. This is even more critical when the key reactive agent is unseen to the human eye. Investigating ionic air purifier technologies falls within this ambit as the reactive agents are invisible ions.

This article is an overview of existing ionic air purifier technology in the marketplace. As laypersons, I believe we have to adopt a back-to-basics approach to try and understand the technologies. The current key trend appears to be the creation of a potent invisible defence shield against airborne molecular contaminants that threaten our well-being. The dominant global health threat under the scrutiny of scientists is the avian flu virus.

Types of Ionic Air Purifier Technologies

Broadly speaking, air purification technologies can be deployed in either passive or active modes. Passive typically means that impure air is drawn into the air purifier for the reactive agents to work on before re-emerging as cleaned air into the environment. Active generally means dispersive processes by which the impure air is penetrated and purified by the reactive agents. Combinations of both passive and active modes are often found in many types of ionic air purifiers.

In the global market today, ionic air purifier technologies include the following categories:

(A) Ion generator - positive and negative ions
(B) Ion generator - negative ions only
(C) Photocatalytic Oxidation (POC)
(D) Electrostatic filter
(E) Combos

Ion Generator - Positive and Negative Ions

This combination of positive and negative ions appears to show the most promise for the future of ionic air purifier technology. Pioneered by the Japanese corporate giant, Sharp Corporation, they are known as plasmacluster ions.

Sharp Corporation's marketing efforts focus on the ability of plasmacluster ions to surround and cling on to harmful airborne bacteria and viruses. When this happens, hydroxyl is produced. Hydroxyl, also known as nature's detergent, is a powerful reactive species that plucks out hydrogen molecules from the organic structure of these airborne particulates thereby destroying them. Harmless by-products, mainly water, are generated by this chemical reaction.

This technology uses a differential ion generator, comprising a positive and a negative ion generator which can be powered in alternate cycles to control the type of ions generated.

Advocates of the positive and negative ions combination claim that a balance of both these ion types is to be found in places like waterfalls and pristine forests, i.e. this is the actual state in nature. In contrast, proponents of negative ions technology insist that negative ions fill natural habitats and that the presence of positive ions is harmful. In this regard, I have yet to find independent scientific studies as evidence for the contradictory claims of both camps.

Ion Generator - Negative Ions

The traditional ionic air purifier produces only negative ions. This technology appears to have the main market share currently but is facing a serious challenge from Sharp's plasmacluster positive and negative ions technology.

It is claimed that nearly all harmful airborne particulates like dust, smoke and bacteria etc have a positive charge. Negative ions from the air purifier attach themselves to these particulates until they get weighed down and fall to the ground. Thereafter, simple vacuuming removes these impurities. Detractors of negative ion technology believe that the "overweight" particulates on the ground are not destroyed and that the mere act of walking on them re-contaminates the air.

In addition, there appears to be several methods of producing the negative ions. This is important because different methods produce different by-products, some of which may be harmful. These methods include:

(1) Water method - this employs what is known as the waterfall or Lenard Effect. Onto an electrically-charged metal plate, water droplets are splashed. This splits the water droplets, a process in which large numbers of negative ions are produced. No harmful by-products result from using the water method to produce ions.

(2) Electron radiation method - this is based on a single negative discharge electrode needle. Millions of negatively-charged electrons are produced when a high voltage pulse is applied to the electrode. This method does not result in ozone being produced. This is due to the application of a "smaller" energy pulse.

(3) Corona discharge method - this is based on a dual electrode model, a sharp metal electrode and a flat electrode. High voltage is applied between the electrodes. This causes the movement of electrons between the electrodes thereby ionising the air in between them. This method has been criticised for the production of harmful by-products like ozone and nitride oxide.

Photocatalytic Oxidation (POC)

This technology is commonly applied in a passive mode. The key reactive purifying agent is hydroxyl, nature's detergent.

Germicidal ultraviolet (UV) light is commonly shone on a catalyst (usually titanium oxide) to produce hydroxyl, oxygen and peroxide, all of which are potent oxidising agents that are very effective at destroying the organic structure of micro-organisms and gaseous volatile organic compounds.

Comprehensive defence is the key strength of POC technology. Proponents of this technology claim that POC inactivates ALL categories of indoor pollution, including:

(1) airborne particulates i.e. dust, pet dander, plant pollen, sea salts, tobacco smoke, industrial and car pollution, etc

(2) bioaerosols i.e. contagious or infectious biological compounds (e.g. viruses and pathogenic bacteria) or non-infectious and non-contagious (e.g. non-pathogenic bacteria, molds, cell debris)

(3) volatile organic compounds (VOCs) i.e. gaseous odours and chemicals - toluene, chloroform, hexane, ethanol, formaldehyde, ethylene etc, all common emissions from everyday products of our modern home.

POC technology has been criticised for relying on hydroxyl which are believed to attack with equal tenacity the organic structures that make up molecular contaminants and our lung tissue, nose membranes and eye cornea.

Electrostatic Filter

This technology appears to have originated in heavy industries which produced abundant pollutants. In the most common electrostatic filter arrangement, there is a porous dielectric material positioned between two electrodes. Dielectric materials do not conduct electricity while metallic electrodes are excellent conductors that transmit and receive electricity.

Contaminated air is drawn into the electrostatic puriifer and made to pass over the dielectric material which acts like a sieve. Electrostatic forces between the electrodes causes airborne particulates i.e.smoke contaminants, dust, etc, to stick to the dielectric surface. Purified air is pushed out of the purifier and re-circulated.

Quite often, an ion source is placed before the electrostatic filter to impart an electric charge to the airborne particulates. The impurities, now carrying an electrical charge, stick more effectively to the dielectric material.

The general criticism of ionisation technology applies to electrostatic filters as well i.e. that harmful ozone is a by-product.

Combo Ionic Air Purifiers

To cater to the various adherents and critics of the diverse technologies, combos incorporate all or some of the above types of technologies. Combos may include:

(1) adsorptive materials such as activated carbon or oxygenated charcoal (known for its extremely porous large surface area) are added to POC technology to enhance the removal of VOCs;

(2) oxidizing catalysts like titanium oxide are coated on various components of all types of air purifiers to enhance VOC elimination;

(3) reducing catalysts such as manganese dioxide are coated near the exit outlets of many air purifiers to reduce reactive species like ozone and nitric oxide which may be harmful;

(4) generating ions by differing methods such as using microwave, UV light, radio frequency waves, and direct current;

(5) tweaking the specifications of any ionic air purifier technology so as to attain the well-known HEPA status without actually using HEPA filters.

Obviously, the process of selecting the most efficient and effective ionic air purifier involves analysing a deluge of information. The safety issues of each technology will need much more investigation. I have also not examined in greater depth the claims of each technology. It is natural to want to quickly want something that promises to improve the air quality in your homes, offices, factories, schools etc. But I urge you to do your homework and don't forget to visit me for updates as I continue my search for the ideal ionic air purifier.

To easily receive updates on new articles, subscribe to The Ionic Air Purifier Blog today.